October is one of the most important months in Rwanda, and not just because it is the crop planting period for season A – in a predominantly agricultural country. In 1990, this month became the beginning of Rwanda’s journey to liberation. The country celebrates the national Patriotism Day every October 1, a date that marks the day that Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA-Inkotanyi) troops crossed into Rwanda from the neighboring Uganda and the beginning of the liberation struggle. Very often we outline what was going wrong before liberation, in July 1994, and we sometimes miss out one of the most important aspects that was affecting half the population, and that is women oppression. It sounds so fictitious – although true – that women weren’t allowed to inherit or own land, they couldn’t open a bank account without their husband’s consent, and they couldn’t get a job, too, without their husband’s consent. Or, can you imagine that there was no law fighting gender-based violence? To think that, today, more women in Rwanda than men own land, is almost miraculous. Hearing that child defilement and rape are abominations and are not tolerated is almost unbelievable. Also, most gender gaps are almost bridged. Rwanda is ranked the most gender-equal country in Africa. Well, patriotism – defined as the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country – cannot be valid if a person claims to love their country and doesn’t care if half of the population is oppressed or treated unfairly, just because they had a different gender. And the thing that the new Rwanda has taught us is to be involved in the changes we want to see in the country. We are responsible for the security, the policies, but also the rights that we have fought for. Just like we learnt from RPA to love the country, we can also learn from their feminism ideology that despite the times and strong cultural norms, rights of women and girls were prioritized to get where we are today.
